


Five Times People Realized How Strong Peter Is...

by comic_history_magic_nerd



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Feels, Canonical Character Death, Depressed Peter Parker, Domestic Avengers, Hurt Peter Parker, Identity Reveal, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Feels, Peter Parker Needs a Break, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has PTSD, Peter Parker is a Mess, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Secret Identity, Secret Identity Fail, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26434474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comic_history_magic_nerd/pseuds/comic_history_magic_nerd
Summary: And the one time he felt strong.Or: After the events of Avengers: Endgame, Peter is feeling weak and a little helpless. The people in his life see he's struggling and continue to be amazed by just how strong their favorite spider-boy is. Peter can't seem to see this though, he's too consumed by grief, depression, anxiety, rage, and the all-consuming feeling that he's not good enough. Until a very special person finally helps him see how amazing he is.
Relationships: Academic Decathlon Team (Spider-Man: Homecoming) & Peter Parker, Bruce Banner & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Sam Wilson, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 13
Kudos: 361





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first multi-chapter fic I've ever written, also the first MCU fic I've ever written.
> 
> Honestly, the MCU means so much to me, I definitely use these characters a crutch in difficult times and analyzing every detail of their on-screen existence is a slightly unhealthy coping mechanism of mine. This is exactly is why I've never been able to commit to writing a fic that takes place in the MCU, because I'd be way to much of a perfectionist about the characters and end up on tangents that serve the plot in no way just to add my own thoughts of a certain character (sorry in advance). But my hormonal ass decided now is the time. *Cue me sobbing over my computer in the middle of the night as my heart shatters for fictional characters yet again.*

**#1**

Peter doesn’t know how much time has passed. He’s just been standing there, in the middle of the battle field, unable to move since Rhodey pulled him away from his–  _ breathe Parker _ – from Mr. Stark. 

He remembers trying to get himself together while Pepper said goodbye. He remembers everything slowing down; movements became blurred, words slurred. Someone came and put Mr. Stark on a stretcher. They covered up his body with a clean white sheet, too pristine to be in this messy place, and they wheeled him away. He watched Pepper and Rhodey follow, but he didn’t know what to do with himself. Without Mr. Stark, he has no place here.

Now there’s tons of people all around. Some he recognizes, like the lady with the short blonde hair and the guy who went really big in Germany. Others he doesn’t, like the people in coveralls picking up wreckage. 

He feels panicked again, he closes his eyes tight and tries to remember how he got here, the simple way this day had started. He was on a field trip. He went to space. They were on another planet. They fought Thanos. They lost. He turned to dust. He woke up. Dr. Strange brought him to Earth. They fought Thanos again. They won. Mr. Stark died. Mr. Stark died. Mr. Stark died.

_ Come on, Spider-man. Get it together.  _

“Peter? It is Peter, right?” A familiar voice asked.

He opened his eyes. He forced his breathing to steady and tried to focus on the face in front of him. 

“Um– yes, sir, Mr. Captain Rogers America um–” His eyes wandered away from Steve’s face and scanned over the two imposing men behind him. Last time he saw them he had webbed them to an airport floor. 

“Are you alright, Peter? You look like you might have some injuries.” Steve tried to get Peter to focus again. 

_ Shit, shit, come on Spider-man. You’re fine, you can do this. _

“Don’t worry about it Captain Rogers. I heal quick.” Peter tried to sound casual but the tightness in his throat made his voice uneven. He glanced down at his leg remembering for the first time in a while how much pain he was in.

Steve glanced back at Sam for help but instead caught Bucky’s quirked eyebrow.

“That sounds familiar.” Bucky mumbled, rolling his eyes. Peter’s self-sacrificing heroism reminded him too much of teenage Steve... or any Steve. “You should still have that looked at, kid. There’s no reason for you to be standing here in pain.”

“It’s okay, really. I’ve had way worse.” Peter tried to keep his voice sure and firm, but all three men didn’t miss how his shoulders tensed and pulled into his body, physically trying to take up less space. 

“Yeah, we’ve heard it all before, kid. Come on, the battles over, it’s time to take care of yourself.” Sam placated. He’s said the same thing to Steve after countless missions.

Steve watched in awe of how his two best friends so easily stepped in to take care of this random kid, Tony’s random kid. He could see how naturally it came to them, they both had too much experience wrestling him into caring about himself. But he knew how Peter felt and decided to take pity on him, or maybe he just felt obligated because this was Tony’s kid. 

“Alright, leave the kid alone, I’m sure he knows his limits.” Peter visibly relaxed at the rescue. “Is there anyone you need to call? Damage Control pretty much has it covered from here, we can all start heading out soon.” 

“I guess I should try and call my Aunt.” Peter’s eyes widened before zoning out completely. For the first time he realised the consequences of what had just happened. His mind was racing and his thoughts tumbled out of his mouth without his permission. “Oh god– I was on a school trip. I was on the bus headed to MoMA with my class when I saw the spaceship and went to go help. Dr. Strange said it’s been five years, Aunt May is probably worried sick.”

“Uh–” Steve was floundering again, looking to his friends for help. Tony never mentioned how young the spider-kid was, he had just assumed early to mid-twenties. When he looked back at Sam and Bucky’s pinched eyebrows they were clearly just as confused. For all their experience with post-battle shock, fatigue, and anxiety, they didn’t know how to begin helping this kid.

“I just didn’t think–” Peter’s word vomit quickly continued. His voice was breathy and quiet, he sounded so far away and increasingly frantic. “I didn’t mean to– Mr. Stark just asked me to follow the magician, but they put him on the spaceship and it started going up. He tried to make me leave, he– he deployed my parachute before we left Earth’s atmosphere, but I cut it off and snuck back on. I’m going to be grounded for  _ weeks _ . I hope Mr. Stark doesn’t take– oh.”

His breath caught. Mr. Stark wouldn’t do anything ever again. Mr. Stark was gone. 

“Alright, kid. Let’s start by finding a phone and giving your aunt a call.” Steve said after a beat. He began steering him towards the nearby ambulances, but Peter had clearly retreated back in himself and was stuck in his own mind again.

Bucky and Sam stood frozen, watching the child limp along with their friend. Bucky couldn’t help but imagine a younger, frailer Steve Rogers, bloodied after getting into a fight in some back alley, wheezing through his broken nose and only caring about how his Ma, poor Sarah Rogers, was going to be upset he got hurt again.

“God, he’s just a kid.” Sam finally spoke in disbelief. “My drone tossed him out an airport window, he must have been like eight at the time.”

“He’s gunna be all sorts of fucked up after seein’ all this. No kid should be seein’ this crap. Then watchin’ Stark die right in front of him.” Bucky shook his head in disbelief.

“And he’s standing there swearing he’s okay.” Sam scoffed. “His leg is probably broken.”

“He sounded so much like Stevie, when we were kids he’d be swearin’ up and down he’s fine while bleedin’ everywhere and hackin’ up a lung.” Bucky’s Brooklyn drawl slurred out making Sam chuckle. It was vaguely amusing how Bucky and Steve both had a habit of slipping into their Brooklyn accents when they fell into their old memories. It was comforting to see the Winter Soldier sound like such an old man.

“Good to know that’s not a twenty-first century Steve problem, minus the asthma of course. I can’t get that boy to care about his own health for anything.” 

“Apparently it’s a hero thing.” Bucky grumbled. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random side note: I'm from NYC and my dad was born (and partially raised) in Brooklyn, he worked there his whole life, and all of his older family members lived there their whole lives. We're also Irish Catholic (at least on his side of the family), so I've always seen a lot of him in Steve and Bucky's characters.
> 
> The Brooklyn accent was really fun to play with even though it's just a few lines because my dad sports a distinct Brooklyn accent that only gets thicker when he's talking to family, angry, reminiscing about his childhood, drinking, talking about work, etc. So I like the idea that Bucky and Steve would do the same.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy realizes a few things while trying to comfort Peter at Tony's funeral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one... short and painful.

**#2**

It’s been a few days since the battle. Peter and Aunt May found each other, but they didn’t have an apartment anymore, May didn’t have a job, the whole world was in chaos because the population had suddenly doubled in size.

Peter couldn’t even worry about all that, because today they were laying Mr. Stark to rest and all he could think about was everything he never got to do with his d– mentor. And how much of Mr. Stark’s life he’d missed in the last five years.

Peter’s eyes were trained on Mr. Stark’s daughter for much of the ceremony. He'd overheard Ms. Potts call her Morgan, but he couldn’t bring himself to introduce himself to the little girl who looked so much like Tony. He couldn’t even bring himself to go say hello to Ms. Potts. Instead he was standing outside kind of near some of the Avengers, not participating in any conversations, just standing and thinking about how his life became this. 

That’s where he was when Happy came and put his arm around his shoulders, pulling Peter into an awkward one armed hug.

“He thought of you like a son, you know?” His throat sounded tight. Peter couldn’t help but feel selfish, Tony’s real daughter, his wife, his best friends were here grieving and Peter was just wallowing in self pity.

“Happy, don’t–” Peter tried to stop whatever comforting thing the man was about to say. If anything Peter felt he should be comforting Happy.

“No, kid, listen to me for once. You reminded him so much of himself, and he just wanted to be better for you then Howard was for him.” Happy was looking into Peter’s eyes now, like he was searching for Tony in there. “And I see it too. You might not be related by blood, but you were his kid. Tony would say you were him, but better and a little less handsome.”

Both of them gave wet laughs. 

“You don’t have to feel sorry for me, Happy. I’m really lucky, I know that.” Peter pulled away from the man, eyes trained on his feet. “I’ve had  _ three _ amazing dads.” 

Peter’s throat closed. He scrubbed his hands over his face trying to force air into his lungs. “Most kids only get one, right?”

Happy looked down at Peter, who still refused to meet his gaze. Tears streamed down the larger man's cheeks and into his proud blip beard. He tried to imagine what this kid was going through, but it only made his chest hurt more.

He had seen Peter’s file, he knew about his parent’s suspicious accident when he was a kid and his uncle’s tragic death fairly recently. When he first saw the connection between Tony and Peter he could only think about how good the kid was for Tony, he never stopped to think how hard it would be for Peter to lose another Dad. But now, watching Peter mourn another father figure like a professional, like he’s done it so many times before  _ because he has _ , it made Happy sick.

Peter cleared his throat, forcing down every emotion he felt was entirely invalid.

“Mr. Stark was my hero, I’m just really happy I got to have him for the time that I did.” Happy could only stand there watching Peter’s chest spasming, his small body shaking as he tried to breathe. He wiped his cheeks with the sleeve of his suit jacket and looked up at Happy with a tight smile. “I’m going to go find May.”

Happy could only stand there and watch the boy head into the house. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sobbed when I first wrote this chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruce, Clint, and Wanda get to have a chat with Spidey about his powers at the Avenger's complex.

**#3**

Since Peter had officially been made an Avenger by Mr. Stark, a few of them had reached out insisting that Peter come train with them at the newly rebuilt compound a few times a month.

That’s how he ended up in a massive gym, with all sorts of high tech equipment he’d never seen before. Clint and Wanda were training in hand-to-hand combat in the corner, Clint seems to have taken over for Natasha in improving Wanda’s spy skills. Peter could hear Wanda telling Clint that he didn’t need to baby her, but the older man just kept insisting he owes a debt.

Training in the same gym as Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch wasn’t even the craziest part of Peter’s day. Apparently the fancy equipment everywhere was custom made by Tony to fit the needs of each member of the Avengers. There were reinforced punching bags for Steve, target drones for Clint, an obstacle course hanging from the ceiling for Sam, and so much more.

Peter had unfortunately beed snapped out of existence before Tony finished the designs for specialized Spider-Man equipment and he could never quite bring himself to work on them after. That’s how Peter ended up standing across from Bruce Banner,  _ the _ Bruce Banner, in the  _ Avenger’s _ gym explaining his powers to one of the most accomplished scientists in history.

“It looks like Tony was working on some sort of suspended beam system with adjustable height.” Bruce flipped through sketches and notes on a Stark Industries tablet, unable to read most of Tony’s messy handwriting. “I’m not sure what he meant on this one, it just looks like a wall with different materials… maybe? He has a few other designs with your name on them but I can’t figure out what he was trying to get at. Perhaps if you explained some of your abilities and your fighting style then I’ll have a better understanding.”

“Sure, of course, Dr. Banner.” Peter was actively trying to suppress his inner fanboy and planning how he would tell Ned later.  _ His head is going to explode when he hears this! _ “I’m not really sure where to start?”

“At the beginning would be nice. How did you get your abilities?” Bruce began taking notes of his own, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“I was bit by a spider on a school trip.” Peter shrugged.

“Ha!” Clint barked out. Besides the quiet grunts and pants Peter had nearly forgotten they weren’t alone. “Are you serious? Did that really happen?”

Wanda raised a curious eyebrow in Peter’s direction and he was suddenly stricken by how vulnerable he felt with their eyes focused on him. His face grew hot, he could feel the redness creeping up his neck, flushing his cheeks with embarrassment.

“Well, yeah. My class was touring a lab at Oscorp and they were running an experiment on gene mutation and one of their test subjects escaped and bit me. I got really sick at first, but I went to bed and the next morning I felt great. I didn’t need glasses anymore, I grew a few inches, I was stronger and faster and more coordinated.” Bruce furiously took down every word Peter babbled out while Clint and Wanda looked utterly amused. “Oh! And sticky. I’m sticky, too.”

“Sticky?” Clint repeated.

“I thought that was just Tony’s suit, that’s actually you?” Peter could see the gears turning in Bruce’s large green head.

“No, that’s just me. I can stick to things.” Peter rolled back on his heels, ignoring Clint’s continued laughing. 

“Oh, what about the webs, kid? Does your body make those too?” Clint begged excitedly before a shudder ran through him. “Actually that would be kind of gross, like little holes in your wrist with sticky shit flying everywhere.”

“Clint, don’t be rude.” Wanda chided.

“No, that’s synthetic.” Peter rolled up his sweatshirt sleeves then clicked his wrists together, twisting them over and watched the two thick black bands wrap around. He held his hands out in Clint’s direction to show how the trigger of his web shooters rested in his palms, then quickly aimed at a small dumbbell on a rack across the room and used his webs to pull it into his hand. 

“When I was first developing the whole Spider-Man persona I thought webs would be kind of handy. I developed the formula during chemistry class and have been using it ever since, with a few tweaks of course. Mr. Stark had some great advice on how to improve its ductile strength, as well as the mechanics of the actual web shooters, of course.” Peter continued, waving around his hands excitedly. 

A smirk grew across Wanda’s stoic face while Bruce and Clint seemed frozen in place. Peter would feel self conscious about his nerd rant, but honestly it felt good to be excited about something again. That’s when Peter noticed they weren’t staring at him, they were ogling the weight still in his right hand.

“Um… Peter, you mentioned being stronger after the spider bit you?” Clint asked slowly, his voice slightly higher than it was before.

“Yeah…” Peter replied, just as slowly, glancing down at the weight in confusion.  _ It looks like just a normal weight. _ He thought, studying it closer.

“You haven’t had a chance to test exactly how strong you are, have you?” Bruce wondered, lifting the tablet to take some notes again. 

“Not in a controlled environment, no. Why?” Peter replied. 

“That dumbbell was made for Thor.” Wanda supplied with a chuckle.

“It’s only two pounds.” Peter gestured to the little “2” carved into the side of the weight.

“Kid, that means two tons.” Clint shook his head.

“Oh… right.” Peter stood there stupefied before turning to Bruce and finally answering his question. “The heaviest thing I’ve ever  _ had  _ to lift– well I don’t really know how we would measure that and there were extenuating circumstances, but I guess it’s the closest I’ve gotten to testing my limits– you wouldn’t happen to know how heavy the average abandoned building is would you?”

The amused look on Wanda’s face dropped and horror replaced it.

“Why did you need to lift a building, Peter?” Wanda asked heavily, the gravity of her question making Peter uncomfortable.

“It was my own fault really…” Peter mumbled, running his free hand through his hair and shrugged. “My homecoming dates’ dad kind of dropped it on me. I didn’t have my suit to call for help because Mr. Stark was mad at me, so kind of just lifted it.”

Peter gave a reassuring smile but it didn’t stop Clint from whispering little  _ oh my god _ s under his breath and Wanda mumbling curses in Russian.

“A building is several– way more than several– tons.” Bruce’s graveling voice scratched out. “We should probably schedule a lab appointment for you before I try and put together Tony’s designs.”

“Of course Dr. Banner!” Peter grew excited again, forgetting all about the horrible memory he had just been forced to recall. “Getting to visit your lab would be a dream come true! Do you think I can help with the designs? I’m usually pretty good at understanding Mr. Starks notes and I’m familiar with his lab, I used to have my own bench there and everything. I would love to get to work alongside you, Mr. Stark always promised to introduce us whenever you made it back to Earth. Mechanical engineering isn’t exactly my forte, I’m more of a biochemical kinda guy, but I’m sure between the two of us we’d have no problem accomplishing Mr. Stark’s designs.”

Bruce quickly agreed and tried to change the subject back to Peter’s physical abilities before his green face turned entirely red with embarrassment, but now that the flood gates had opened, Peter spent the next hour detailing which of Bruce’s scholarly articles of Bruce’s he found most interesting.

Once Happy had come to retrieve the boy and the gym door shut firmly behind him, Bruce heard Clint and Wanda’s sparring pause once more. The three Avengers turned to look at each other but all they could do was laugh helplessly.

“He is something else.” Clint chuckled. 

“Tony tried to warn me but I figured he was exaggerating.” Bruce glanced at where Peter had left from and whispered, “He’s so much like him.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if Bucky comparing Peter to Steve in ch. 1 shows Bucky thinking Pete is super-strong because Steve is Bucky's hero then Bruce comparing Peter to Tony is the same. Get it?


	4. Chapter 4

**#4**

“Where’s Penis Parker, loser?” Flash asked only seconds after arriving at the Leeds’ apartment.

Ned’s parents were out of town and the decathlon team had decided to take advantage of the lack of parental supervision to have a team bonding sleepover. MJ threatened all the remaining team members, forcing them to make an appearance with the promise of pizza and alcohol. 

It had been a small comfort for each of them when they returned to school post-snap to find that they weren’t alone. It didn’t take long for MJ to bully them all back into regular practises, even someone as antisocial as her could see how badly some of them needed a break and a sense of normalcy. Hence tonight’s exclusive decathlon team party.

Flash had been the last to arrive a fashionable thirty minutes late, but he was correct in his observation that Peter Parker was missing. MJ frowned at Ned wondering where their friend could be while sipping out of her red solo cup.

“He’ll be here. He promised he would, he’s just running late.” Ned tried to shrug carelessly but the whole team recognized the tension and anxiety in his voice. 

Everyone was recovering differently from the snap, but anyone who had known Peter Parker before he blipped could tell he was having a difficult time. The teachers often discussed how he used to be a regular happy, hyper kid, but now he barely spoke or participated. Even the decathlon team had hardly seen him outside of classes, he only came to a handful of practises since they got back. At first they thought it was Sophomore year all over again but a quick glance at Ned told them it was something more.

“Oh please, as if Parker’s promises to show up mean anything.” Flash continued to berate the absent boy, rolling his eyes at the team's refusal to acknowledge what a flake Peter was.

“Flash.” MJ warned through clenched teeth.

“Flash isn’t wrong.” Betty said innocently. “We all see Peter struggling and I know the last few weeks have been really tough on everyone, but it’s naive to think he’ll show up tonight. He doesn’t even come to practices anymore.”

“He said he’d be here okay.” Ned snapped. “He’s just going through a lot right now.”

“Yeah, we all are dude.” Abe mumbled through the handful of chips he stuffed in his face.

“I bet you haven’t even heard from him since he ran out of school earlier.” Flash scoffed.

Ned didn’t respond, instead he checked his phone for the tenth time in as many minutes and looked to MJ for help.

“Ned, is there something going on we need to know about?” MJ asked carefully. She had tried so hard to give Peter the benefit of the doubt since they came back, but whatever was going on was hurting Ned more than he let on.

“He’s just been through a lot, and I know we all have but he’s been through more. Trust me.” His classmates looked confused but let him continue. “I don’t know how to help him, I don’t know how to be there for him right now. He just keeps shutting me out more and more. He lost so much and saw so much and he won’t tell me about it.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Leeds?” Flash questioned rudely.

Before MJ could scold him there was a thud at the window. Ned's apartment was three stories up and the living room window did not have a fire escape. While everyone gave confused grunts at the sound Ned jumped up mumbling  _ shit shit shit shit _ under his breath as he ran to the window.

Ned’s body covered most of the commotion but the team could see the window being flung open and Ned dragging someone through. 

“Someone go grab the first aid kit from under the bathroom sink!” Ned shouted to his team frantically. MJ gestured for Abe to go grab it and he ran from the room while the rest of the team went to investigate who Ned was now holding in his arms on the floor.

“Oh my god.” Betty summed up when they leaned in to see an unconscious Peter Parker in his Spider-Man costume. 

“What the fuuuuuuck!” Flash shouted, trying to pull his phone out of his pocket before MJ slapped it out of his hand.

Abe re-entered the room and shoved the first aid kit in Ned’s hand, they all watched as he methodically pulled the suit off Peter’s limb body with MJ’s help. Once Peter’s torso was revealed they all gasped at the blood leaking out of two gashes in his abdomen. 

“Karen, report on his injuries.” Ned’s shaky voice ordered.

“Peter has sustained two stab wounds as well as two possible broken ribs. Should I notify Happy and the complex?” A soothing voice replied to the astonishment of Peter’s classmates.

“Yes, please.” MJ handed Ned some gauze from the kit and he began applying pressure. He looked up at his friend’s concerned faces and continued, “Actually can you get Happy on the phone?”

“Sure, I’ll connect you now.” Everything was silent for a few seconds before another voice appeared.

“Kid, what the hell is going on? I got a medical alert from Karen.” The voice was panicked and rough.

“Mr. Happy? It’s Peter’s friend Ned. He showed up at my place bleeding and unconscious, I think he needs some real medical attention.” Everyone could see the tears pooling in Ned’s eyes and hear the tightening of his throat. This was bad.

“Okay, Ned. I’m not far, just apply pressure and try to slow the bleeding.” There was rustling in the background as Happy got in his car.

“I’m doing that now.” Ned replied, sounding smaller than ever. “We were supposed to have a party at my house tonight for decathlon, there’s some people here and they know now.”

“Don’t worry about that, kid. We’ll deal with that later. I’m ten minutes out, okay?” Happy sounded eerily confident, the whole team wondered if he’d been in similar situations before.

“That’s fine, sire.” 

Fifteen minutes later, Peter had been boarded onto a quinjet and was being flown to the Avenger’s complex for medical attention. Happy had a quick word with Ned about what to say to their friends before he left with Peter, promising to keep them updated.

Ned scrubbed his hands in the kitchen sink for an unnecessary amount of time before returning to the living room where his friends sat in shock. Betty was crying, Flash’s mouth gaping open, and Abe’s head was shaking repeatedly. MJ, who as far as Ned knew did not know Peter’s secret, looked oddly calm.

“I guess you can just ask questions if you have them, and I’ll do my best to answer.” Ned swallowed loudly.

“I mean– no– this actually makes a lot of sense.” Abe mumbled giving a weak laugh.

“That’s what you meant, wasn’t it? That he’s been through a lot?” Betty sniffled.

“Yeah. His experience with getting snapped was a little different than ours.” Ned whispered. “I don’t know much, he won’t talk about it, but I’ve pieced some stuff together.”

“Oh my god.” Flash finally said something. “This means Penis actually knew Tony Stark!”

“Seriously, Flash? What is wrong with you?” MJ attacked. “Pete saved our lives, a bunch of times! Not Spider-Man, not some random guy,  _ our _ Peter!” Everyone shifted uncomfortably while Ned gave her a silent thank you. “The trip to DC, homecoming with Liz’s dad, when he disappeared on the way to MoMA, tonight! Everytime we were just living normally he was off saving the world. And then he’d come back and get railed on about missing school or practice.” 

“He was on that spaceship with Ironman the day we got snapped. We didn’t even know what was happening and he was facing down Thanos, wasn’t he?” Betty looked to Ned for answers.

“He won’t talk about it. He tried to once but it’s like he was back there. I think he could feel it, when we turned to dust I think it hurt him, it was like he couldn’t breath and he thought I was Mr. Stark and he kept apologising.” Ned was crying now thinking of the pain his friend was in. “And then he came back and he was dragged into the battle again. I mean we’ve all seen the photos of the wreckage, I can’t even imagine what it was like. And losing Mr. Stark–”

Ned’s voice cracked and he buried his face in his hands. He didn’t mean to say all that, this was Peter’s private life, he shouldn’t be exposing it like this, he hadn’t realised how much it was weighing on him. 

After a few silent moments Ned’s phone chimed and he cleared his throat to read out the message. “It’s Happy. Peter’s at the complex and stable. His super healing kicked in but the doctor’s are concerned that it didn’t stop the bleeding sooner so he’s being held for observation for a few days.”

The whole room gave a sigh of relief. They spent the rest of the night processing and asking Ned random questions as they came up. Eventually that turned into telling funny stories about Peter and the dumb excuses he came up with. By the time they left early the next morning they all agreed it was a miracle they hadn’t found out sooner.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really really suck at writing a lot of characters in a scene at once. 
> 
> I think it's naive to think that Peter's friends wouldn't notice what a mess he is post-blip. They might not say anything to him, but they definitely notice. 
> 
> Also, of course MJ knows and doesn't need to be told.


End file.
